Fixed-roUte transit For older adUlts
FocUs groUP interVieWs
amherst senior center amherst, nY
JUlY 28, 2005 transcriPt
hess: How did you travel to the Senior Center today? W1: I took the Amherst van.
m1: I drove.
m2: I came by the van today.
m3: I came by wheelchair, but I sometimes take the van. W2: I drove here.
m3: Walking through the woods. W3: I took the van.
hess: So, let’s see—we’ve got one, two, three on the Amherst van, two that drove, one
that walked, and one that took wheelchair. But, what we see is that nobody actually rode public transit to get here. So, we’ll think about that as we continue talking today.
So, let’s think about the many ways that older adults would need to travel, the many reasons they would need to travel—for shopping, for errands, for doctor visits, for socializing—even for coming to the Senior Center and the many ways that they can get around. So, my first question is what would make public transit, compared to other modes of travel, difficult for older adults to use? So, what makes public transit difficult to use?
W1: The senior van comes right to the house, but to ride public transit you’ve got to go to
the bus stop, right?
hess: So, the Amherst van picks you up at your house, but to use public transit you’d have
to go to the bus stop?
W1: Yes.
hess: And what is difficult about getting to the bus stop? W1: You don’t know how what is the distance of it.
hess: So, you might not know where the bus stop is? W1: That’s right.
W3: There’s no public transportation that goes down my road. I’m on a country road and
no public transportation will go out there. I live between Transit Road and New Road and it’s too far for me to walk to either one. I don’t think a bus goes on New Road anyway. It does on Transit Road, but I’ve got no way of getting there. It’s too far, it’s over a mile.
m3: I think that one of the obstacles of public transportation is irregularity of where and
when. For example, here we have one bus #44 which makes it once in an hour. Sometimes if something happens it is two hours. So, this makes for distance between our trips which it very hard on our lives. For example, we have every 15 minutes then more people and people like me would use it. But, one hour—it is too much.
m3: One of the things I’ve found riding on the van is that I have to find another person and
that’s difficult to do at times.
hess: Another person to help get you on besides the driver? m3:Yes, they are supposed to accompany you.
hess: So, often times the second worker on the bus isn’t there and there’s only the driver
and that makes it difficult?
m3:No, I’m talking about leaving my home with another person.
hess: I see. So, getting out of your house and getting ready to get on the bus. m3:Yes.
m2: I don’t have any questions on transportation because I never use it. All I know is that
you get on at the front door and get off at the front door. That’s it. I don’t even know how much it is anymore. But, we have one car in the family now so that’s inconvenient for getting around. My son uses the car and I’ve got to sit and vice versa.
hess: Do you still drive?
m2:Yes, but I was in an accident a couple of months ago. hess: Ok, other comments about public transit?
m1: I’ve only used it a few times—the subway. hess: Did you use the University station?
ride you bounce around a bit.
hess: So, that’s uncomfortable for you—the jostling and the ride?
m1:Yes. I’ve ridden during rush hour and had a bit of difficulty standing. But, basically it is
nice to have it.
m3: As a concern of public transportation, I think the problem in Buffalo is the enormous
distance. The city and the suburbs are spread so wide, so every trip takes too long.
m3: I’ve never used public transportation, but are all buses equipped to take a
wheelchair?
hess: They are required to since the American’s with Disabilities Act in 1991.
m1: In order to use the bus I would have to walk three-quarters of a block to get there—and
that’s a problem. Buses don’t come to your front door.
hess: So, the distance from your house to the bus stop is a problem? But, you do know
the distance, so do you know where the bus stop is?
m1: Yes, it’s just down the street.
m2:The bus stops right in front of my house. hess: But, you don’t use it?
m2:No.
hess: What keeps you from using it? m2:I still drive. I’ve never had to.
hess: But, a minute ago you did tell us that when your son takes the car you can’t go
anywhere.
m2: Yes.
hess: So there is a bus nearby, but you don’t use it? m2: Yes.
W3: I would use the bus if it would come down my road and got me to Transit Road where
I would need to transfer, but as I said it don’t come down my road and there’s no chance of it coming down my road.
W3: All the time. I’ve always used public transportation. I’m from Schenectady. I lived in
Schenectady and worked in Albany so I always took public transportation. I loved it.
hess: So, let’s say there was a bus near you that took you to Transit Road, can you think
of anything that might make it difficult for you to use?
W3: At this stage in my life I can handle steps, unless they are very narrow. Then it would
be very difficult. But, if they’ve got places for me to hold on and walk up the steps I’d be alright.
hess: Now let me ask you this, in what ways do you think older adults might have difficulty
boarding buses, using buses and light rail vehicles? What would be the difficult parts of actually getting on the bus, paying your fare, finding a seat—actually using the bus. What do you think older adults might perceive as being difficult?
m1: Getting onto the bus itself. It’s too high. m2: The new ones lower down, don’t they?
m3: I suppose it could be a bit of a problem getting the change if you’ve got a walker or
a cane.
hess: So, if your hands are full and you need to get your money out.
m3: What about safety on public transportation in Buffalo? Is there any thought concerning
possible terrorists or an attack?
hess: So, you would be concerned for your safety in getting on public transit? m3: Especially going underground.
m1: In particular with the subway with certain rambunctious populations. The few times
I’ve ridden I’ve been careful not to travel too late at night.
hess: So, if we are talking about safety and security I’ve heard two different comments.
M4 mentioned the fear of terrorists or something like that happening on the train or bus. M1 mentioned fear of other groups of people. Does anyone else have any more comments on those types of fears?
W3: Well, there’s no guarantee with terrorists. No one can guarantee that. As for the
problems with the younger kids on public transportation, you’ve got to go not at night. I wouldn’t recommend going at night. Even in Schenectady I would never go at night. You never know. You’ve got to go during the daytime.
m2: They also have mini-buses out too, I think. Lots of times I see mini-buses take people
over to the supermarket.
W1: I’ve never traveled on the bus.
hess: You’ve never been on the bus in Buffalo. Have you been on the bus elsewhere? W1: No, my daughter drives me wherever I go.
m1: One of the difficult things when taking the bus or subway is if you are going shopping
and you have things to carry and where do you put them? Especially if there is a lot of traffic on the subway, you have to stand up and nobody kind of says sit down.
[Enter W4]
hess: Next question. What makes driving in a car or being driven in a car more convenient
than riding public transit? So, when you think about driving verses actually taking the train what are the barriers to taking the train or the subway that make you choose to drive?
W2: You can go when you want to go. You don’t have to wait for the bus. m1: You can carry what you need to carry.
m3: There is a problem for us and that is about being in love with the car. Because it goes
from the house to any destination.
m1: Right now, I think about the price of gasoline. I come from Main Street and drive all the
way out to the Senior Center and that’s about a 12-mile drive—25 miles a day.
hess: Do you ever think well, maybe I should take the bus because it is cheaper? m1: No because it is too inconvenient.
hess: It’s too hard to get to?
m1: Yes, it would have to come right to the front door.
hess: Well, my next question has to do with information. In order to plan a trip on a bus
or the MetroRail you have to know where the stop is, when the bus comes, which route to get on, where to get off to get to your destination, so you need a lot of information. I’m wondering if that information is a barrier or how you might get that information about using the system.
W3: I’d first call the company. I’d tell them where I live and where I want to go and they
would give me all the information.
hess: So, that doesn’t seem to be a problem for you. You could easily plan your trip? W3: Right.
m3: I would call.
m2: I never use public transportation. m1: I’d call them.
m2: I like the convenience of the car. It’s more convenient to get in the car and go where
I want to go. I never had to use transportation. Except ever since the subway I always wanted to take a ride on it one time to see what it is like. I never did yet.
hess: Let me ask, what do you think would make older people able ride public transit
with greater ease? So, what would really make it easier? So far some of the comments we heard from W3, for example, were if the bus route came a lot closer to the house or if there wasn’t such a great distance to the station. But, try to think of what ways would make it easier for you to ride public transit.
W4: I would think convenience.
hess: So, if it were more convenient you would ride public transit? W4: Yes.
hess: What specifically would you like to see be more convenient? W4: What would I like to see more convenient? No comment.
W3: Like I said I would take it if it came on my road because I can walk a good distance,
but not over a mile. So, if it came on my road I would go to the stop and take it and go where I wanted to—depending on van or the availability of my family to take me because I don’t drive. But, like I said it won’t come down Tonawanda Creek Road.
W4: I don’t drive. I have to depend on the van first to come here. Now, this morning they
were looking for Brook Path and they went down Brook Drive. So, that’s why I was late. I find the Amherst van service very convenient.
W3: The van takes me to all my medical.
W4: I’m not worried shopping, but it is just the other things.
m3: Many of these buses are going on the wide roads and really in neighborhoods where
there are cars and small roads they don’t go there. If they would go a little bit deeper into the residential neighborhoods people would probably be happy to take the bus. But, the highways—this is what makes things difficult. I don’t know if it is possible to re-route some of the buses into the residential neighborhoods.
W3: They don’t go on a route unless it is profitable. They have to be sensible about it. Not
enough people ride—if they aren’t making any income then they are going to discontinue that route. Most people on the country roads have cars and use their car—very few
use public transportation. That happened in the city too where I lived. The route wasn’t profitable, so they discontinued it.
m1: Even with the best of intentions in the world, they subsidize the routes and then you
have someone like County Executive Giambra screwing things up so there is not money available. It’s really a problem city planners and transit planners have to figure out how to finance it and how much they can afford to provide in the way of service if they don’t get paid extra. They can’t be too careless in terms of the service they provide. The finances are important.
m3: I haven’t ridden public transportation in a long time. I would need help getting on the
bus. I have had difficulty getting on our small vans here. I need a lot of help. I have fallen down the stairs too.
hess: Ok, so we are just about wrapping up here in terms of the discussion. We are
going to ask you to fill out a questionnaire. But, I would like to give every person here the opportunity to maybe make a summarizing statement or perhaps make a comment you haven’t yet made. We are trying here to figure out ways to make public transit more convenient and easy for older people to ride. I know that some of you here don’t ride transit at all, but if you can put yourself in the position that you had to depend on transit. W1 has told us that she has a daughter to drive her around, but what would you do if you didn’t have a daughter or other family member to depend on and you actually had to find out about transit service?
W1: Go in circles. To find out things I have to go in circles.
m1: Well, we’re all in a sense we are prisoners to our physical disabilities, old people in
particular. I can get around with a cane and so forth but it’s very difficult. Even getting on public transit, it would be difficult having to climb up and sit down. I couldn’t carry much with me.
hess: So, you’re saying if you really needed to make a trip in some sort of an emergency,
you could do it now. But, if we made it a little bit easier for you, you might ride it more regularly.
m1: If I became more incapacitated then I would really have a problem. The more they
subsidize the buses and add additional buses the better I like it. But, I know it’s a fact of economics and they can’t do it.
m2: I wouldn’t have any problems getting on or off the bus. The only thing is that I would
have to learn where I want to go and how I would get there. That’s all.
hess: Do you think you would have any difficulty in getting information about what bus to
take?
m2: No, all I would have to call downtown and they would send it out to the house which
m3: Maybe I’m thinking too simple here, but it’s always the first ride that is the most
challenging. If there could be some type of arrangement, which I doubt that there is, for someone to ride with you the first time it would help out.
W2: It’s just wonderful to have the transportation that we do have. As I said I have no use
for it right now. Where I live the buses come down the street and that. But, it would be inconvenient for me to get on something like that because I use a cane.
hess: Could you do it if you needed to? W2: Yes, if I had to—with a little assistance. m3: I think you can do nothing. No change.
W4: I have no trouble getting around. When I have to go I can either walk or take a
bus. I don’t drive. I live on Sheridan Drive and Evans and I’m not sure I know how to take a bus. If someone showed me how to take the bus – there is a bus somewhere around there. Then I would know whether to use the van or walk. For instance, I walk to the Eagle House. Which in my estimation isn’t far, but to some people it is far. They make a big thing about it. I like to walk and right now I’m able to get around.
hess: Now, did you say you only take the Amherst Van and you don’t take the NFTA
bus?
W4: No, I don’t know. If someone would show me how, where to get off, where it stops then
I would. There is a bus somewhere around where I live; I think it is across from Wegman’s Supermarket. I’m not sure. It’s really hard. When I lived in Buffalo I always took the bus or I walked—it was my only way of getting around. Now I depend on the van a lot.
W3: If it went down my road I would use them, otherwise it’s impossibility—I have no way
of getting to them.
Barriers to Using Fixed-roUte transit For older adUlts FocUs groUP interVieW transcriPt
BaPtist manor BUFFalo, nY aUgUst 25, 2005
hess: In thinking about public transit, the regular buses and subway that you see moving
around the city and that many of you use, I’d like to know what works and what doesn’t work? What works for you and what are the barriers to using transit?
W1: Okay, the new buses, I don’t know who designed them. But, when you get on them
there is that cat’s cage where someone gets in this way and faces that way. There is a barrier on the right-hand side if you want to call it that and by the time you get there and the bus driver starts up fast, you can be on your bottom. I don’t know who designed the bus, but it was very poor thinking because when you used to get on the bus you were able to sit right down when you got on and not walk a mile and get knocked down. That’s what I’m thinking.
W1: Do you want to know about the train? I had an appointment at 85 High Street and I
can’t walk because of tumors on the bottom of my feet. So, I had to wait a long time for the